A.K. S.R. et al.

Journal of Energy Storage 59 (2023) 106494

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic representation of the experimental apparatus (b) thermocouple positions in the setup (c) experimental setup for studying unsteady heat transfer
of NPG with heat pipe and heat sink.

Table 2
Table 3
SS-PCM NPG thermophysical properties.
Characteristics of heat pipe.
Properties NPG PCM
Component Material/dimension
ρ (kg/m3) 1060
Heat pipe material Copper
Cp (kJ/kg-K) 2.516
Wick structure Sintered
k (W/m-K) 0.12
Heat transfer agent Water
Ts (K) 312.4–319.65
Pipe inner diameter 5 mm
α-phase Monoclinic
Heat pipe length 125 mm
γ-phase FCC
Pipe wall thickness 1 mm
Wick porosity 0.58
Saturation temperature 35 ◦ C
of heat sink with 4 mm gap to measure heater temperature. Thermo­
couples T6 and T7 are employed at a height of 28 mm to record heat
sink’s sidewall temperatures. To monitor the temperature of heat pipe 2.4. Numerical procedure and validation
evaporator and condenser, thermocouples T4 and T5 are bonded to its
bottom and top outer wall. Three thermocouples T8, T9 and T10 were To validate the acquired experimental data with the outcomes of the
inserted in the PCM at 18, 37 and 56 mm from heat sink’s top for numerical simulations, PCM assisted heat sink with heat pipe configu­
measuring PCM phase transition temperature. For measuring the ration for 11 W power was designed in SolidWorks 2021 and imported
ambient temperature thermocouple T2 is attached. In Fig. 1(b), the into COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0 software, and the properties of NPG PCM
placement of all thermocouples is clearly depicted. were defined. There is substantial agreement between the current study

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A.K. S.R. et al. Journal of Energy Storage 59 (2023) 106494

Table 4
Grid independence study.
Element size (mm) Temperature (K) Difference (K)

0.0027 312.24 –
0.0024 312.48 0.24
0.0022 312.50 0.02

Fig. 2. Validation of present simulation with experimental results of NPG heat

pipe/PCM coupled model.

and previously published work by Midhun et al. [36] with the temper­
ature trend of PCM assisted heat sink. Heat sink walls and heat pipe
absorb energy through conduction heat transfer mode from PCM and
then to the atmosphere via convection. To fully comprehend the dy­
namics of heat transfer, simulations were performed for charging and
discharging conditions, respectively. Fig. 2 depicts that the present
simulation agrees well with the experimental results. For numerical
modelling following assumptions were considered:

❖ Conduction heat transfer mode occurs in heat sink holding SS-PCM Fig. 3. Time step independence study.
with heat pipe.
❖ Thermophysical properties such as thermal conductivity and density
element size 0.0024 and 0.0022, the grid element size of 0.0024 is used
of NPG are considered constant during the simulation.
in further investigations.
A time step size of 0.5 s was found sufficient since extra time size
2.5. Governing equations refinement did not improve the computation accuracy. Finally, the
configuration’s temperature vs time plots were obtained as shown in
The process described is utilised to simulate a copper heat pipe with Fig. 3.
equivalent thermal conductivity based on the process mentioned in
[37]. Heat transfer within the heat sink occurs via conduction mode. The 2.7. Uncertainty analysis
3-D heat conduction equation is given as
The key parameter examined in this study was temperature at
∂2 T ∂2 T ∂2 T (ρcp ) ∂T
+ + = (1) various locations, power levels and measurement of thermal properties
∂x2 ∂y2 ∂z2 k ∂t
to assess the performance of the configuration. Thermocouples of K-type
Heat transfer from heat pipe’s condenser part and lateral surface of were utilised to take temperature readings from the heater, heat sink,
heat sink to the atmosphere is accounted via convection. heat pipe and PCM, respectively. These instruments are linked to the
uncertainties in the readings. The calibrated thermocouples in the range
Qconvection = − hA(T − T∞ ) (2)
0–200 ◦ C have an error of ±0.5 ◦ C. A voltmeter and an ammeter were
Based on assumptions made for NPG, conservation of energy is used to measure the power with 1.4 % and 0.5 % error, respectively.
applied. As a result, the equation for conservation of energy is expressed Table 5 shows the uncertainty related to the parameter being measured.
as, The uncertainty of the heat generation rate or the heater power is
( ) based on the measurement of voltage and current. By implementing the
DT k
= Δ2 T (3) steps followed in [38], the uncertainty in the heater power is expressed
Dt ρcp
as
where the specific heat at constant pressure during the phase transition qgen = P = V1
based on the effective heat capacity method is taken as, √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
( )2 ( )2 √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
∂P ∂P
Latent Heat δP = δI + δV = (VδI)2 + (IδV)2
cp = ∂I ∂V
Phase Transition Temperature Range

2.6. Grid independence test Table 5

Uncertainties in equipment.
The key to improve the accuracy and efficiency of numerical calcu­ Equipment/sensor Uncertainty
lations is by rationalising the grid size and time-step. With reference to
Setline DSC Setaram ±3 %
the model in this study, various simulations are carried out with varying Thermocouple K-type ±0.5 [◦ C]
grid size and time-step. For investigation, heater’s temperature at 3750 s Agilent Benchlink data logger (34972A) ±0.1 [◦ C]
with 11 W heat input is used. The numerical solutions grid independence Voltage (Fluke 15 B Multimeter) ±0.5 %
was tested using three increasing fine grids, as given in Table 4. Due to Current (Fluke 15 B Multimeter) ±1.4 %
Flux Teq PHF-01e Heat flux sensor ±5 %
the little (0.045 ◦ C) variation in heater temperatures between the grid

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A.K. S.R. et al.
Fig. 4. DSC curve of NPG PCM.
At voltage, current and power level of 50 V, 0.22 A and 11 W respec­
tively, δP = ±0.1635 W
3. Results and discussion
For evaluating the thermal behaviour of SS-PCM assisted heat sink,
transient experiment was conducted with cooling at various input power
levels for charging and discharging period. For comparing the perfor­
mance of the configuration following cases are considered:
Case 1. PCM assisted heat sink coupled with heat pipe.
Case 2. PCM assisted heat sink without heat pipe.
Case 3. Empty heat sink.
3.1. DSC analysis of NPG
Fig. 4 depicts the relation between the rate of heat flow and tem­
perature as determined by the DSC method using PerkinElmer Pyris 6
DSC 6000, United States instrument to assess the kind of phase change
transition. NPG phase transition temperature and enthalpy changes
were measured utilising the DSC technique. The heating and cooling
curves of NPG DSC are depicted in the figure. With temperature range of
15–55 ◦ C and heating rate of 5 ◦ C per minute, the data obtained from the
analysis of the DSC are shown in the Table 6. The endothermic peak for
NPG begins around 39.40 ◦ C, resulting in solid-to-solid phase shift from
α phase to γ phase due to hydrogen bond breakage. This phase transition
phenomenon is observable from 39.4 ◦ C, with peak temperature
44.94 ◦ C and an offset temperature 46.65 ◦ C. Enthalpy changes of
130.064 J/g and 81.040 J/g were obtained during the phases of heating
and cooling, respectively. In addition, NPG exhibited a subcooling effect
of 15.15 ◦ C during discharging.
3.2. Repeatability test
Through repeatability testing confirmed that the experimental
Table 6
Phase transition temperature and latent enthalpy of NPG.
Sample Heating (◦ C) Δhcharging(J/g)
Tonset Tpeak Toffset
NPG 39.40 44.94 46.65 130.065
Journal of Energy Storage 59 (2023) 106494
Fig. 5. Temperature time response from repeatability study of Case 1 for
charging period at power level of 11 W with filled PCM configurations.
setup’s temperature response was consistent across all configurations. At
Tambient 30 ◦ C and 11 W power level, each of the configurations under­
went three independent trials. The temperature map comparing the
three trials is displayed in Fig. 5. The T-t plot showed a consistent trend
across trials, and at a 5 % confidence level, the dependability of the
readings for each configuration was good.
3.3. Charging and discharging of NPG
Fig. 6 shows the heater temperature evolutions of NPG at different
power levels (heat flux) of 9 W (2.50 kW/m2), 11 W (3.05 kW/m2), and
13 W (3.51 kW/m2) with a 99 % filling ratio for Case 1. Charging period
is the time required by heat sink to attain SPT of 55 ◦ C from room
temperature of 30 ◦ C once the heater is turned on.
The time elapsed by the heat sink temperature to cool back to room
temperature from set point temperature is known as discharging period.
Discharging process was initiated after reaching SPT of 55 ◦ C by switching
off the DC power supply. NPG is an organic solid-solid PCM with solid
phase transformation from tetragonal to cubic structure during heating
and vice-versa during cooling. Curves AB (36.20 ◦ C–37.40 ◦ C), A′ B′
(36.05 ◦ C–37.42 ◦ C) and A′′ B′′ (36.04 ◦ C–37.43 ◦ C) in temperature with
time plot confirm the solid-to-solid phase transformation in NPG. The
results of the nature of NPG during heating and cooling in previous studies
[36] resemble the current study. During discharging, heat sink losses
energy through wall as well as from heat pipe’s condenser section. It is
evident from Fig. 7 that as power level increases, discharging time de­
creases. As nucleation process is initiated below the recrystallization
temperature, supercooling(subcooling) comes into effect. Due to this ef­
fect, an instantaneous temperature rise was discerned for a certain period
of time. The impact of phase transition was noticed in the curves of region
DE (36.40 ◦ C–35.04 ◦ C), D′ E′ (36.25 ◦ C–34.84 ◦ C) and D′′ E′′
(35.57 ◦ C–34.26 ◦ C) during cooling for 13, 11 and 9 W respectively. After
the solid-solid phase transition, sensible cooling was observed until it
reached the ambient temperature.
Cooling (◦ C) Δhdischarging(J/g)
Tonset Tpeak Toffset
24.25 23.71 22.24 81.040